Meet Me – Investment Manager Nathan Ramages

Our nature-loving Investment Manager on his favourite things about Cape Town and enthusiasm to help SMEs grow

What do you do at Growth Lending?

As an Investment Manager, I am responsible for the full end-to-end credit and funding process. This includes managing an investment analyst.

Where are you based?

In the suburbs of Cape Town.

What is your favourite thing about the Cape Town office?

The location! Being in the CBD of Cape Town, I am close to the mountains, beaches and amazing restaurants and coffee shops. On long summer days, I can squeeze in any combination of a run, hike, or swim before and after work! It is great that a lot of the office is super active too, with many of us being members of the Growth Lending running club.

What does a typical weekend look like for you?

Usually as much time outdoors as possible – anything involving sunbathing, such as swimming, surfing or picnics with friends and family. I have also been known to get caught up in bingeing a good Netflix show!

Why did you join Growth Lending?

To gain exposure to high-growth SMEs. Growth Lending has a unique focus on tech and facilitates a range of diverse deals including working capital, growth capital and acquisitions, which was really appealing to me.
Also, the office culture is not your typical approach to fund management. I have the ability to work with SMEs and founders that are usually in an under-served market (from a debt perspective) and sometimes require a bit more support through the debt raising process. The ability to genuinely assist a business owner to grow their business is very rewarding.

What item can you not work without?

Coffee and a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones

What’s the best thing about your role?

There are three great things about my role:The ability to help SMEs grow their business
To problem solve – no deal is perfect and Growth Lending’s bespoke approach to funding creates a need to be creative in how deals are funded

Empowerment culture – personal growth is core to the culture; Growth Lending offers an opportunity to accelerate one’s career trajectory

Who do you work with?

I work closely with the South and Midlands team in the UK – Chris, Matt, Kelvin and Becky. And in Cape Town, our team comprises other Investment Managers and Analysts.

Given £100m to spend or invest, what is the first thing you would do?

Take a few years off to backpack around the world. Then I would focus on improving the funding ecosystem for African-based start-ups, specifically focusing on getting SMEs ready for their first round of funding.